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The 1.5 - Back to the future.

This is the swap that started the whole Mk1 engine conversion craze for us and also spawned the need for Nik to create TB to give us a place to discuss our unique cars. I thought it would be fitting all these years later to build myself another 1.5 to celebrate our club relaunch. I'm also keen to own all three marques in heavily modified form and as you know have been building a 2gr SC TRD widebody for some time, alongside that I also have a Mk3 with a 3s-gte hanging in its bay which will get its own build thread soon.

So, on with the show.... I had to trawl through some prehistoric folders on my PC to find this pic, as this car did not actually have a build thread, there was no forum to put it on! This is the car that started it all, the goal was to create a mini monster Ferrari themed Mr2, so all bodywork was handmade by me (tastes were somewhat different back then so please don't judge me too harshly, it looked awesome for its time).

So, the 2017 model won't look like that, more of a wide n low JDM theme, featuring my bolt on arches, deep dish Watanabe style wheels, Nurspec exhaust, lowered to within an inch of its life, and of course a rev3 turbo motor.

This is the donor, a Mk1a I picked up 6 months ago that had been left in a garage for ten years, pretty solid but a few cosmetics to deal with later, it came with a seized fuel pump and rotten brakes, all of which have since scored 2 points with a well aimed bin shot.

She's in timewarp condition inside, in fact the whole car is pretty unmolested..... so it's time to molest it.

My wheel weapon of choice..... they don't get much more JDM than that.

As you can see it is sitting too high, I have already fitted D2 coilovers to it with custom spring rates, but haven't adjusted them down yet, I am going so low that roll centre adjusters will be needed to keep the arm geometry right.

The plan is to keep the body simple, not even sideskirts or a front lip, all Mk1a just with my bolt on flares covering the wheels.

Inside the engine bay, this is the before shot, a perfectly good running 4a-ge, which is now out....

By the end of today the new mounts should be in, there is a lot of work to do, but should be pretty good.

I have seen an upturn in the number of 1.5s being built for customers, I think they are making a bit of a comeback!

Last edited by Paul Woods; 15-03-2017 at 17:12.

TB Quote of the month:"I split my ear open whilst masturbating" - Jasper Full story Here

Only kidding. :) Incidentally Paul I have a copy of what I think is your original build thread (as an Adobe paedeofile) for the first V6 Mk1, it's a really interesting read as it chronicles all the figuring out stuff.

This is the thread that Fatprick found and nagged the hell out of me about until we built JapScrap.

Thanks Chris but I have every file, pic and article I've ever written on my hard drive, Yewtree left that part alone.

Jon I am keeping things relatively stock with the rev3 motor, aiming for reliability over all out performance, in effect a "stock" 1.5 as the factory might have intended.

I am going for our tried and tested SC location intercooler above the gearbox, it gets loads of cool air blasting up from underneath the car in that area and not directly over the engine, I am not a fan of the Gt4 chargewarmer but it does have its uses when space is tight, I am using the chargewarmer on the Mk3 3s-gte build but purely for space restriction reasons. I also don't like the added weight of the chargewarmer, pipes, pump, cinq rad, all of that coolant etc

This is what I am going for, a recent customers 1.5 build but in a more OEM colour scheme, this setup just makes everything so compact.

TB Quote of the month:"I split my ear open whilst masturbating" - Jasper Full story Here

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Tel: 0191 3770962 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Email : paul@woodsport.org

About Us

We used to be a pure MR2 engineering club but have since expanded our knowledge and interest to include pretty much anything that's 'retromod'. Taking already great machines and making them that little bit more special.